Spring Break
Student organizations prepare for'08 elections
Stephanie Takach
Issue date: 1/11/08 Section: News
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The caucuses began the course towards the 2008 presidential Election Day and have sparked responses to the upcoming change in Washington.
Drexel political organizations are closely following the commencement of the primaries, and agree that it is too early to pick out a nomination from either party.
Despite Mike Huckabee and John McCain's victories at the Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses, it will not be possible to tell until the end what will happen, according to College Republican President Ivan Skakun.
"Taking a step back though, both campaigns are now in a good position to win the nomination," John Lloyd, Drexel Democrats vice president, said. "Basically, I think the media jumped a little ahead of itself writing the narrative. This campaign isn't over by a long shot."
President of the Drexel Law College Republicans, Nate Fox, said, "[It's a] tight race this year and there will be a shot that the convention will matter this year."
With the Pennsylvania primary on April 22, Drexel voters have a few months to decide which candidate they will support.
"If Obama and Clinton both make it through Feb. 5 without a clear winner, then Pennsylvania will be a big primary, and things will get very exciting around here," Lloyd said.
Although the primaries had an unprecedented early start this year, Jan. 3, Fox said she believes that people are prepared to vote and that they have made up their mind.
The Drexel Democrats hosted a watch party Jan. 8 during the New Hampshire primary, and party watchers said they were surprised at how Obama was scoring in the polls.
"There are Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, supporters in the Drexel Dems [also at the watch party], and they were excited, disappointed, disappointed, respectively," Lloyd said.
Obama came in a class second to Hillary Clinton for the New Hampshire primary, picking up 34.67 percent of the vote.
John Edwards, who came in second in the Iowa Caucus, received 16.95 percent of the vote in New Hampshire, placing third.
Huckabee took the victory on the Republican side for the Iowa Caucus, followed by McCain's victory in the New Hampshire primary.
"I still think that Huckabee will have a good position at the end of the primaries as he has a good public perspective," Skakun said. "John McCain might have problems … he is a more liberal republican."
"I would say most republican voters can pick out one thing out of all of the candidates that they don't like," Fox said. "A lot of us are waiting for a true conservation that we like, not someone that we like just on social issues or economic issues."
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